Text Size

SENATE PULLS MINIBUS AMID AMENDMENT ROW: Talk about an unproductive week for the “world’s greatest deliberative body.” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid pulled a three-bill minibus package that includes funding for the DOT from the floor yesterday after the two parties couldn’t agree on how to move forward on amendments. After spending much of the week on procedural motions and unrelated speeches (and taking only one lopsided 95-3 vote on the funding bill), Reid took to the floor yesterday afternoon to ask that all amendments be subject to a 60-vote threshold. “We’ve waited all week to get a simple agreement to move forward on appropriations bills the way we’ve always done it,” he said. “But it seems to be that we spend all week doing, so much of the time, nothing,” Reid later added. “Sadly, I’m sorry that’s the norm around here.”

Republican=controversial? Minority Leader Mitch McConnell countered by targeting Reid’s comment that 60-vote thresholds are standard procedure for controversial amendments, as a way to avoid a time-consuming filibuster. “What I think I hear the majority leader saying is that any amendment offered by any Republican is controversial and, thus, must require 60 votes,” the Kentucky senator said. The impasse leaves the future of the minibus up in the air. The Senate moved to a sportsman’s bill on the floor, but could return to the appropriations bill at any time if they can reach a deal on the amendment process.

Still fighting: A Senate Appropriations Committee spokesman said the move was “disappointing but we aren’t done by a long shot.” The spox also said that senators will continue working on the bill to try to bring it back up. “It’s a shame that we couldn’t get an agreement today from the other side to move forward but it’s only a little bump in the road and we intend to roll up our sleeves and come back at this again next week.” For all the slow-walking the Senate does, all it takes is an agreement — a list of amendments from both parties that will get votes, for example — to get things moving again quickly.

TRUCKER HOUR DEBATE RAGES ON: The minibus might be on the back burner, but the debate on hours-of-service rules for truck drivers will rage on. Both Sen. Susan Collins, who offered the original committee amendment targeting two specific parts of the rest rule, and Sen. Cory Booker, who has offered a floor amendment to reverse Collins’ change, took to the floor yesterday to make their cases. See video of Collins (http://bit.ly/1idANyI) and Booker (http://bit.ly/1pk2vZ6).

Industry, regulators react: The American Trucking Associations said in a statement that it is “disappointed” by the bill being pulled but that the short debate on Booker’s proposal shows why the Collins language should stay in the bill. “It is sound policy, it is overwhelmingly bipartisan and it when it’s ultimately enacted into law, it will help keep our nation’s highways safe,” the group said. An FMCSA spokeswoman said the agency is “very concerned about attempts to relax, even temporarily, the number of hours a truck driver could work from the 70 hour maximum on the books today, to 82 hours a week.”

Police perspective: International Association of Chiefs of Police head Yousry “Yost” Zakhary wrote House and Senate Appropriations leaders yesterday to note that cops around the country have “profound concern” with the Collins language. Noting that both drivers and regulators have made major changes to adjust to the new rules, Zakhary wrote that another change, “not even a year since becoming effective, will create a significant uniformity and consistency problems across the country and cause operational and budgetary impacts on enforcement efforts.” http://politico.pro/1qjFjf3

DEEP-FRIED FRIDAY. Thanks for reading POLITICO’s Morning Transportation, your daily tipsheet on trains, planes, automobiles and ports, where it was 39 years ago today that “Jaws” was released in theaters, scaring thousands away from the ocean on their summer beach trips. Please drop me a line: asnider@politico.com. There’s more on Twitter: @AdamKSnider and @POLITICOPro.

HOUSE REPUBLICAN ELECT McCARTHY, SCALISE: House Republicans voted to promote Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy to be majority leader, filling a job that will be vacant at the end of July when current Majority Leader Eric Cantor steps down. Steve Scalise was elected majority whip, the No. 3 job in House Republican leadership. POLITICO has a nice look at Scalise and how he won: http://politi.co/1pOjzdm

THE EVER-CHANGING GAME THAT IS THE HIGHWAY TRUST FUND STOPGAP: House Speaker John Boehner said yesterday at his weekly briefing that the Ways and Means Committee is “having a discussion of pay-fors that would fill the gap for some number of months.” Boehner, who will soon see a shakeup in his leadership team, said that “the idea” is to do a nine or 12-month plug for the beleaguered Highway Trust Fund. But House Democrats have a trick up their sleeve, according to the Washington Post — they have a plan to shore up the trust fund with $20 billion raised by a tax change that would make it harder for multinational companies to lower their tax burden by having their headquarters outside of the United States (“corporate inversions,” for the tax and business crowd). More in the Post: http://wapo.st/SWPE41

NTSB UPDATES ON TRACY MORGAN CRASH: The truck driver who crashed into a vehicle carrying comedian Tracy Morgan had been on duty for the past 13 hours and 32 minutes, just shy of the 14-hour legal limit, the NTSB said yesterday. The preliminary report said electronic log data show that 35-year-old Kevin Roper went on duty at 11:22 a.m. June 6 at a Wal-Mart facility in Delaware and made deliveries or pickups in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. At 12:20 a.m., Roper left a Wal-Mart facility near Bristol, Pa. The crash happened 30 minutes later. Roper had logged nine hours and 37 minutes of driving time before the crash. The NTSB said Roper's truck had been traveling at 65 mph for the minute before the collision. New Jersey prosecutors have charged Roper with death by auto and assault by auto; he has entered not guilty pleas on both charges. See the report, including renderings of the wrecked vehicles that were scanned in 3-D (http://1.usa.gov/1sqN46R) or read more in Kevin’s story on POLITICO (http://politi.co/SX1nQa).

Questions the NTSB report raises: Roper might not have made it to his final destination within the 14-hour daily work limit. The crash happened near Cranbury Township, which is a drive of about 25 miles to Perth Amboy, N.J., Roper’s destination. That drive takes around 30 minutes without traffic. Roper had 28 minutes left before reaching his daily on-duty limit. Teamsters head James Hoffa said the NTSB’s findings “clearly show that truck drivers are pushing beyond the limits of the current hours of service rules.”

THIS WEEKEND ON METRO: It’s yet another week of no station closures and shuttle buses replacing trains. The Green Line has regular service this weekend, and trains will come every 20 minutes on the Orange, Blue, Yellow and Red lines (though the Red will see extra service during the day). Get all the details before riding the rails, via WMATA: http://bit.ly/UiUHgG

STOWAWAY POINTS TO AIRPORT PERIMETER NEEDS: Teenager Yahye Abdi recently gave his first interview since he snuck through the fence at Mineta San José International Airport and stowed away in a plane’s wheel well for a five-plus hour flight to Hawaii (http://cbsloc.al/1nS2Mmy). Rep. Eric Swalwell said that the incident shows the need for better airport security, and he wants the TSA to do a pilot study looking at better ways to secure airport perimeters. “While Yahye Abdi was innocent in his intent, his statements to the press raise real concerns,” the Homeland Security Committee member said in a statement yesterday.

THE AUTOBAHN (SPEED READ)

- Lisa Radogno, an aide for Sen. Mark Kirk and daughter of Illinois Senate Republican leader Christine Radogno, died suddenly Wednesday evening of a massive pulmonary embolism resulting from when she was struck in a hit-and-run crash last month. NBC4: http://bit.ly/1qjbOd5

- A new Center for Internet Security report finds dozens of airports were targeted by hackers last summer. Read it: http://bit.ly/1srQS82

- Weather sensors in planes help improve forecasting and could lead to fewer grounded flights. http://bloom.bg/SWZvXA

- Houston has had a few good aviation days — a new terminal at George Bush Intercontinental Airport gets approved and the FAA completes a key NextGen milestone. Airport World: http://bit.ly/1lFNvFf

- A bill for a 25 mph speed limit in New York City is on its way to enactment. Capital: http://bit.ly/1pkG9GM

THE COUNTDOWN: MAP-21 expires and DOT funding runs out in 103 days. FAA policy is up in 468 days. The mid-term elections are in 137 days and the 2016 presidential election is in 872 days.

CABOOSE — Five modes, one picture: Old transportation pictures are awesome. Old pictures from one’s home state are awesome, too. So is getting five modes — boat, car, truck, train and plane — into one shot is pretty spectacular. Here’s all that wrapped into one picture that MT just adores. Taken in the 1940s in La France, S.C., not far from where MT spent most of his youth growing up in Clemson. Picture via Facebook, but you don’t need an account to view it: http://on.fb.me/SX6UGw

**A message from POWERJobs: The Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA) is seeking a Policy & Advocacy Coordinator for its Washington, D.C. office. This person will work with Association leadership on the overall development, coordination and implementation of a grassroots program to engage pilots in ALPA government affairs. Click here for details.**